…but do I want to change???

Three Goals Thursday-Dec 3

Aristotle Quote Whatever we learn to do, we learn by actually doing it; men come to be builders, for instance, by building, and harp players by playing the harp. In the same way, by doing just acts we come to be just; by doing self-controlled acts, we come to be self-controlled; and by doing brave acts, we become brave. – Aristotle

This week I ran across the quote by Aristotle that is shown above. I included it at the beginning of my post today because it seemed like an apropos bit of wisdom and a good word with which to explain what it is I’m doing with my Three Goals Thursday initiative.

I’m learning by doing these days.

I’m also once again going to break my Thursday post into sections, because, yeah, this one is a long one. You’ve been warned. Here we go…

I’VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR 6 MONTHS—CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!

I started my TGT initiative in July of this year. JULY!!! Can you believe it? That means I have been at this habit forming practice every day, of every week for six months. Woohoo, yay, me! In looking over previous posts between now and July, I noticed that I have had the same goal, to eat oatmeal for breakfast, every day for six months. I think I’ve probably formed a habit by now, so I will not be including oatmeal eating in my goal list going forward! Something new is coming. Yay x 2!

MY 12 WILL BECOME 15

In November, I committed to doing 12 minutes of exercise in the morning, each morning. This routine feels like it is beginning to be a habit for me. I like that. This week, I will be upping the number of minutes I spend exercising and stretching each morning–to 15 minutes. I am also using my recumbent bike for 15-20 minutes a day, and have found that so long as I use the recliner for sitting at night, I am able to do this without pain. Thank you, God! This is good news.

A NEW RECLINER

Since I’ve found that sitting on a hard chair or in the recliner is helping me with my sciatica pain and making it easier to exercise on the bike, I will be purchasing new furniture after the New Year. One of the pieces I will purloin is a new recliner. Anything that helps alleviate this leg pain is a blessing.

THANKSGIVING RECAP AND RANT

I think I talked a lil bit about Thanksgiving in an earlier post. I did stellar with my eating that day, but struggled a bit with grazing on the Saturday after, when we had a joint birthday party for two very young family members: 1 and 2 yrs old respectively.

The good news: I noticed the grazing behavior I had entered into right away and went to work fixing it. In the past, I either would not have noticed anything different about my eating, or would not have addressed it, so this is a win for me. Yay x 3!

The bad news: I saw food obsession and signs of sugar addiction played out at the birthday party.

As a recovering sugar addict, I’m able to spot another addict from a mile away. It’s that glazed stare in their eyes, the inability to “look away” when sugar is presented to them, the shaking of limbs that goes along with anticipation, and that obsession–that constant obsession that dictates their actions–that signals me that I’m in the presence of another sugar addict.

Most of the time I’m able to disconnect from sugar cravings these days. Most of the time. Especially, I am strong when the sugar conveyance is not something that triggers an addictive response in me, ie: cookies, cake, jello, cannolis, soda, and things of the like. I simply don’t care that much about these types of foods to be enticed by them to the point of addiction. What I do get sucked in by are things like: Pasta dishes that are cheese laden, artisan breads, homemade spreads for those breads, red licorice (don’t ask me, I don’t know what that is about), or flavored coffees. Oh, and pumpkin spice or sour cream donuts.

I don’t know why those last two bug me, but they do. Any other donut I can pass by, and I do, but these two bother me and cause cravings.

Anyway, back to the birthday party. There was a addict there that day, one who could not, NO WAY leave the sugar alone. That one had eaten plenty on Thanksgiving, and wasn’t unlike a lot of Americans in that way, but at that birthday party I saw addiction in all it’s gross glory. I saw someone shackled by foodobsessive.

It broke my heart, and made me angry!!!

MAKING “MY” WAY IN THIS WORLD

More than ever before, I realize today that I cannot control other people.

I. Can. Not.

What I can do is make three teeny, tiny goals each week and work to see them achieved. I can and will learn to live differently by doing!

2. Exercise for 15 minutes every morning, before I do anything else, and ride the recumbent bike 3 days out of the week.

3. Count calories each day as a means of being accountable for what I eat.

That last one will be hard for me, since I hate doing it. But….I can do something I hate to do if I see a reason to do it, and I need to start being accountable in this way. It won’t be pretty and it won’t be easy, but it is doable. Millions of people will be joining me in this work this week. Pray for us all. Together, we get better!

What have you been doing for six months that you never thought you’d do? When have you learned by doing?

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10 thoughts on “Three Goals Thursday-Dec 3”

I have been saddened by not being able to help others. Not as a surgeon, helping others that way is easy because I do the work. I am referring to others that must do the, apparently, hard work for themselves. I’ve seen that look of addiction in the eyes of those with a food addiction too.

Good fortune with counting calories. Use a journal. If you get good enough at it you can transition to the easier way of portion control. That doesn’t mean you can only eat one portion, but it means that you have an accurate sense of what you are eating and are accountable and can keep track of it for the day. By the way, the fewer meals you eat, the easier it is to keep track. Also the more yo eat the same things, the easier it is to keep track.

Thanks for you comment, Dr. J. The food addiction behavior in someone so young was jarring for me. I wish no one, ever, had to deal with this kind of obsession. One day, we will live without food needs, and I think that will be a better day.

I hate counting calories, but I am going to try it for a week and see how it goes. I “think” whether I count calories (I hate it so much because of being tethered to something like a journal or calorie counting system), or learn to practice portion control, I am probably not going to “get it” unless I practice for a while. I’d like to quit counting calories before I begin–I hate it that much–but I gotta start somewhere. The birthday party clearly demonstrated to me what food addiction does to an individual. It steals your ability to think about anything but food. I don’t want to live that way.

Good word about eating fewer times per day. I practiced something like that for two nights following Thanksgiving, wherein we skipped dinner meal and opted for a bowl of popcorn instead.

BTW: I did not gain weight over the holiday. Score!!!!!! Yay me, x 4! 😉

Very ambitious. The goals are not remaining so teeny-tiny anymore, yet remain realistic and achievable. How do you plan to count calories? (manually, computer program, etc…) Keep up the great effort. It is certainly paying off for you.

Thank you. Your kind comments encourage me. I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew with that third goal (pun intended), but I hope I can do it. I will be hand recording everything I eat and counting up those calories three times a day. Maybe with a counting program, certainly with the use of the computer for counts, but probably recording everything in a journal, the old fashioned way.

Congratulations! Sounds like you’re doing a great job. Have you ever read anything by Katy…forgot her last name. She’s a biomechanist. Her website is nutritousmovement.com, I think. Anyway, she has some radical, but practical, ways to help with pain based on the physics of how our bodies work as machines, and it’s all founded in the way we move. Change how we move, change how we feel. Fascinating stuff. I think you would appreciate what she has to say. She’s written 3-4 books too.

Yeah to all of your Yeahs! It’s really awesome how much you accomplished over only 6 months! I used to have a really good overview of foods and their calories, but cannot find it anymore. So this is the closest I could find to it. http://ndep.nih.gov/media/GP_FatCal.pdf Best thing, you can print it out and go old fashioned with it 😉

To your question: I haven’t been the nicest person or the best partner in the last 6 months and it makes me feel really uncomfortable, so I hope I’ll get a grip on this again.

Thanks for the link, Hanni. Every lil bit of help, helps! You’re the best!!!

About your partnering: Its hard to be on top of my game every day with this life stuff, so I understand where you’re coming from with your struggles, but I also know you’ll meet your goals for the future.